The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has extended voting in the ongoing governorship election in Anambra State to Sunday.
The extension was as a result of malfunctioning of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, which disrupted accreditation and voting in some areas.
The state Resident Electoral Commissioner, Dr Nkwachukwu Orji, said the poll would open at 8.30am and close at 4pm on Sunday.
He said, “In line with existing regulations and guidelines of the commission, any intending voter who is in the queue by 4pm shall be allowed to vote. All Polling Units staff must comply with this directive.
“The time extension arose out of several field reports that voters had problems with accreditation.
“The commission is currently investigating the reason the accreditation devices, Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, worked perfectly in some polling units but not in others. In some of the cases, it would seem that this resulted from software glitches.
“Our technicians have already built an update for the device software to prevent further challenges.
“The update is currently being installed in the concerned BVAS and we request voters, candidates and agents to be patient and allow our technical staff to solve the problem.
“The commission wishes to reiterate that in cases of sustained malfunction of the BVAS, the Presiding Officer must inform the voters and polling agents that accreditation and voting for the affected polling unit shall continue tomorrow or at another time determined by the commission.”
